Incarnadine
by Kelly Beansprout
Summary: 16 years after Saya entered her hibernation, all surviving Chiropterans start becoming haunted by repetitive nightmares. Concurrently, ill omens start appearing around the world, everything marking the return of an ancient evil. M for violence.


Hey all, this is my first and slightly ambitious attempt at a Blood+ fic. Hope you like the intro, it's a little short, but please give opinions/crit! Rated M mostly for violence and gore.

I don't own anything relating to the Blood+ franchise!

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In her guarded coccoon, the sleeping form of Saya Otonashi thrashed violently. Fingernails clawing at phantoms, legs kicking at invisible foes, the sides of her uterine enclosure pulsated sickeningly. Strange dreams had begun to haunt the hibernating queen.

They were drenched with such an air of rage and despair. Always Saya would be sitting motionlessly in a golden throne; her limbs draped with pure gold and dressed in sumptuous fabrics. An entire royal court's worth of servants and noblemen bowed to her. They were dressed strangely, in clothing that Saya was sure no longer existed. She waved her hand and human beings burst around her like overfilled balloons. The blood that spilled so violently out of their distorted limbs drenched her clothes and stained her hands. She drank desperately of their blood, as if it would cure her of some great pain. But the blood was tasteless; it was no longer of any use to her.

Then suddenly, she would be gliding across the pavement of an ancient city, filled with the cold heat of desperation. Arrows flew all around her head, their sharp points pierced her body, but she felt absolutely nothing. She was cornered then, back against a raging river in the throes of a spring flood, with the knowledge that she no longer had the strength to jump across it's swollen body. Young warriors, armed with sword and spear, held her pinned. She tried to fight with an animalistic fury. Slashing and biting with all of her power, but despite her great effort, her limbs were suddenly transformed into lead. She stared blankly at her own body's betrayal and saw to her despair that her flesh was corrupting. Where previously her body had been young and supple was a mummified limb.

The dream-Saya shrieked and the empty darkness of sleep would return.

Outside the stony confines of the crypt, these violent dreams had begun to fill the nights of the young daughters of Diva. Barely 16 years old, blue-eyed Miyu and brown-eyed Mayu had begun to wake every morning drenched in cold sweat. Each day they would desperately try to dreg details from the dreams, but the dreams were evanescent; within seconds of waking they would fade into a unpleasant wisp in the back of the mind.

At night, it was a different story. At first, the twins only mumbled in their sleep, but their unconscious actions grew more violent with each day. Kai quickly became worried, waking one night to the screams and thrashing of his adoptive daughters.

"Mayu! Miyu! Wake up!" he shouted as he rushed between their twin beds to shake them into consciousness. "What in high heaven has gotten into you two?" Mayu opened her eyes first, but they stared blankly.

"Mayu, I'm here. Dad's here, nothing to be afraid of, see?" Kai comfortingly pushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear. He turned to Miyu, was now also staring blankly. They were like two dead-eyed porcelain dolls. Kai felt a deep fear crawl into him as he looked into their blank eyes. As a man who had spent most of his life fighting monstrosities, he had thought that he had long overstepped such an ugly visceral panic. But now, it hit him like a freight train.

"MIYU! MAYU!" he nearly screamed. They stared, unresponsive. Kai's hands began to shake, he checked that they were breathing. He shook them harder and stepped back to wait for a response, hot waves of panic hitting him again and again. He considered going downstairs and calling Julia, but he feared letting them out of his sight, even for a minute. So he waited, hands quaking, for his precious girls.

Then, after what seemed to be an eternity, the two girls blinked. Their movements were sluggish. It seemed as if they were emerging from the bottom of deep sea, only now having breached the surface of the water.

"Papa?" Miyu asked confusedly as her eyes finally focused on Kai. "Why are you watching us sleep?"

"Yeah pops, aren't we a little old for this?" Miyu added snarkily, rubbing an eye.

Kai nearly shouted his relief, but restrained himself to a bear hug.

"Go back to sleep, you two, we're calling Julia first thing in the morning."

"What? Why? We just called her yesterday for our check in!"

"Don't worry about it now, you two. We'll talk about this in the morning. Get some shut-eye."


End file.
